ussian press in raising a feeling of indignation against China, on
account of these reported massacres in Eastern Turkestan, that it has
placed translations of these charges before the English reader, and, on
the authority of the _Tashkent Gazette_, has indicted and summarily
convicted the Chinese of the grossest acts of inhumanity. We would
venture to suggest, that in common fairness to the Chinese this journal
should place before its readers the temperately worded and dignified
reports that have appeared in the _Pekin Gazette_ of those events upon
which the _Tashkent Gazette_ has commented so indignantly.

As we said, the Chinese are fully resolved to regain Ili. They may not
be able to induce Russia easily to surrender it, yet they will not
despair. In all probability they will fail altogether to re-acquire it
by diplomatic means, yet they will not omit to employ all the artifices
that are sanctioned by modern diplomacy. There have been rumours that
China intended handing over to Russia a strip of territory in
Manchuria, which would give to the Russian harbour of Vladivostock a
land communication with the forts on the Amoor. But this rumour had no
solid foundation, and the latest intelligence goes to show that China's
successes beyond Gobi, instead of making her moderate in the north, have
given her confidence sufficient to arouse her into a state of opposition
to further encroachments on the part of Russia in that direction. It is
now said that Russia demands pecuniary indemnification for the money she
has expended in raising Kuldja to its present highly prosperous
condition; and at a first glance nothing could seem fairer, nor do we
think that the Chinese would have raised objections to the payment of a
moderate sum. But the sum demanded by the Russians is far from moderate.
The exact amount has not been mentioned, but the Chinese declare that it
exceeds the total cost of the campaign in the north-west, and that
certainly was not less than two millions sterling. This is, of course,
too exorbitant, and is only put forward as a reason for declining to
abide by her former agreement, and to give her diplomatists a _locus
standi_ in their discussions with the Chinese representatives. A Chinese
Embassy has been authorized to proceed to St. Petersburg, and to
endeavour to effect an understanding with Russia upon the Kuldja
question; but it does not appear to have started, and the real
settlement lies in the hands of Tso Ts